https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/countries/australia/and-the-netherlands/cultural-affairs-and-shared-cultural-heritage/shared-underwater-heritage—call-for-proposals-2019

Shared Underwater Cultural Heritage | Call for Proposals 2020

Dutch-Australian Underwater Cultural Heritage

Dutch seafarers explored and charted the Australian coastline more than 150 years before James Cook. In 1606, Dutchman Willem Janszoon and his crew on the Duyfken made the first European landing on the Australian continent. Many Dutch explorers, including Dirk Hartog and Abel Tasman, followed. Some of the Dutch journeys to Australia did not end well. In 2029 it will be 400 years ago since the Batavia wrecked off the coast of Western Australia. The discovery of the Batavia and three other Dutch shipwrecks in Australian waters in the 1960s, presented Australian and Dutch scholars with a unique opportunity to jointly explore our shared maritime history and heritage.

The Dutch-Australian underwater cultural heritage programme also focuses on shared military underwater heritage in Australian waters, dating back to World War II, when the Netherlands and Australia were allies in in the Pacific War.